Hustler 5BTV Mods for 12 and 17 Meters

HUSTLER 5BTV MODS FOR 12 AND 17 METERS

N6WJA  Edward Clayton

I had purchased a Hustler 5BTV (5 Band Trap Vertical) antenna hoping to make it a portable antenna for camping trips and remote setups for Field Day or for the US Islands QSO Party. 

I took the antenna home, and did a preliminary set up, built a radial mounting plate, attached the radials (30 +) and tried to tune up the antenna. 

10 and 15 meters were OK, but I could not get 20 meters on the same planet.  Different length radials added changed nothing.  Since I couldn’t get 20M working, I felt it wasn’t necessary to try 40M or 80M.  Disappointed, I broke the antenna down into 2 sections and hung it up in the garage, hoping to get back to it.

3 Years later….In the meantime, I had built some other vertical antennas, I constructed a 20M vertical from the handle of a pool vacuum, built a 4 element 2 Meter Yagi, I made loop antennas for 17M and 20M and tested them in different configurations, Delta, square, diamond, and rectangle, and also with different feed points.  Each mod had it’s benefits and drawbacks.  But all my antennas were temporary.

I rent my house, so it is difficult to mount and antenna on the house, and I refuse to drill holes into someone else’s house for coax and antennas…plus the windows are crank out so it made running coax through the window a little more difficult too.  Because of these variables, my operating time was reserved for an occasional weekend or from the back end of the SUV, with a ham stick dipole on a telescoping fiberglass flag pole.  I became quite adept at setting up and taking down antennas…all the time meaning to get back to the Hustler 5BTV.

So this year I decided that I wanted and antenna set up so I can operate this winter from the comfort of INSIDE the house.  It was time to revisit the Hustler 5BTV antenna.

Instead of making it strictly a portable antenna, this time I would make it semi-permanent.  Off to the hardware store where I got a 4 ft length of 1 ¼  galvanized pipe...and with a 4 lb mallet, proceeded to pound the pipe into the ground…..20 minutes of convincing the pipe eventually there was 18 inches sticking out above ground.  20 inches might have been a little better, but not a deal breaker.

I grabbed the Hustler, and rechecked the dimensions from the instructions and mounted it to the pipe, added coax, and attached the antenna analyzer.  For now I left off the 75/80 coil and whip, so I checked the bands for resonance. 10M, 15M, 20M, and 40M.  The SWR on 10-20 meter bands were all around 1.5:1.  40 meters was less than 1:1 SWR? 

What the heck, I had almost given up on this antenna, and all I had to do was mount it the way it was suggested in the instructions?  Who would have guessed.  Since I seldom look at instructions, I never take them seriously….and always figured they were for there for someone else.  I still want to use this antenna as a portable, but that is another project for another time.

Well if the antenna is resonating, it is time to hook up the radio and make some contacts.

10 Meters was silent between 28.300 and 28.500, I made a contact on the Island of Bonaire in the Caribbean on 15 meters, and a few contacts on 20 and 40 meters.  The antenna works.  The ground in the backyard was pretty wet from a deluge a week before, so I had hoped that I didn’t need to put down the radials yet.  Since we have a very large Oak tree in the backyard, I will wait until most of the leaves are down before I lay the radials. I dread the thought of having the mower pick up a radial, and spending the time to remove it from the around he mower blades.

Somewhere along the line, I had noticed that there is a company that makes a 17 meter add on for Hustler verticals...”Well”, I thought “If someone makes it for sale, then there are some Hams out there who have made their own.”  Time to use google.  EUREKA!  I found what I was looking for.  Not only were there mods for a 17-meter add on, but others have included 12 meters as well…. You mean that I could have either a 6 or 7 band antenna in the same space as a 4 or 5 band antenna, and for cheap?  YES!!! I started doing the gold miners dance in my head like I just found the Motherlode.

Back to the garage (my second favorite place in the world) and let’s make this thing work.  According to the plans all I needed was some wire, PVC pipe, a couple of insulators, and some cordage to attach the the wires to the PVC pipe.  This was going to be simple, and….

And what then happened was approximately 12 hours of testing, and changing the configuration, and more testing, and more changes.   OK the 12M and 17M ¼ wave verticals were good, 40M was still less than 1:1 SWR, @20M was workable, though the SWR was a little higher…like 1.7:1, 15M tuned up OK, but 10 meters was so far out of tune, I would need to shorten the mast by approximately 2 inches, and that means re tuning every other band too.  I didn’t want to do that, because at a future point in time I might need that section to be at its factory designed length.  So, there must be another way. 

First off, I tried to move the wires further away from the antenna at the top by using a 5 ft fiberglass driveway marker.  Low wind load, so it should work.  Well it worked, but not the way I had hoped.  It did nothing to bring 10M segment of the antenna back in to the realm of being useful.

Trying the add on ¼ wave verticals one at a time, I found that neither the 17M or the 12M add on verticals made a difference that would allow me to use 10 meters on that antenna.   I started to reason that since we are at an “off” time in the solar cycle, I don’t need 10 meters anyway.  But when 10 meters is on, it can be a lot of fun, so I refused to give up on it.

What if……?  What if I fed the add on verticals separately from the Hustler 5BTV?  I basically have the same antenna space.  They share the same ground, and will share the same radials.  Why not….?

So that is what I did, (see photos) I made separate feed points for the ¼ wave vertical antennas, and tested again.  All bands were good.  All SWRs were 1.6:1 or less.  Time to hook up the radio again and test it out.  10M and 12M were quiet in the voice segments of the those bands, 15M was OK, made one contact, but the band was quiet as well.  I made several contacts on 17M to Germany, answered a few CQs on 20M, and made more contacts on 40M. 

I am pleased with the results.  The only inconvenience is that I will have 3 lengths of coax running back to the radio and I will have the 12M and 17M antennas connected to an antenna switch.  None of this is a problem as I already have the switch and coax.  It takes up the same space in the yard, and is no more conspicuous than the Hustler by itself.  So If you have had difficulty tuning a Hustler 5BTV with addon verticals, give this method a try.  It might work for you as well.

Parts list

Approximately 6 inches of 2x2 aluminum angle stock. (Cut in 2 equal pieces.

2 SO-239 chassis mounts

8 small screws to mount the SO-239’s to the aluminum brackets

1  5ft fiberglass marker pole

18 inches of ¾ PVC

1 U-bolt or antenna to mast mounting bracket

2 lengths of wire measured for ¼ wave on 12 and 17 meters

2 insulators (I used a 4 inch section of ½ PVC drilled on each end)

Cordage (I had some paracord handy so that is what I used)

The interesting thing is using the fiberglass marker pole above the 20-meter trap, I can pre-load it like a bow with tension to keep the wire verticals taught without using springs.

I plan to re-route the wires when I take this down one more time to weather proof it.

Note the wire ties for strain relief on the wire.  Also the aluminum angle was notched and drilled. It is attached to the bottom U-Bolt of the antenna mount, and I drilled another ¼ inch hole for a ¼ in bolt about an inch above it.  It isn’t very square or symmetrical because I didn’t measure anything except the wire for the verticals.

   

Final steps.  All feed lines are between 45 and 60 Ohms, I will make a  Big Ugly Balun for each coax line, with all three wrapped around  a section of 3 inch PVC.  The coax lines running to the house will be inside of a length or two or 1 ½  PVC to keep it from being stepped on and damaged, and coax seal for the PL-259 fittings, and a little bit of silicon sealer for the solder connections on the back of the SO-239 chassis mounts.  Radial plate and radials are waiting for the leaves to fall.

73’s N6WJA